Eviction update – Change One Life

We meant to send you this update last Monday, however, during the weekend Negrita suffered an irreversible setback and on Tuesday, September 12th she left us after ten long years by our side. She had a very strong will to live but, in the end, her frail little body gave in, and it was time to let her go.

Negrita was the first FeLV+ rescue to ever live at the Sanctuary and as she turned 15, she was also the eldest one. She was always here with us through it all from the beginning and now that she’s gone there is a big hole in our lives and a piercing pain in our chests.

As I’m writing these lines, I feel so devastated inside, I can’t find the will nor the strength to carry on; I feel a kind of pain that nothing and no-one can ease.

But life goes on, and broken-hearted we must take on our responsibilities and out of love for all the other rescues we must keep on fighting.

I miss you so much my sweet Negrita!

Let’s start now with the fundraiser pending update:

Firstly, we want to thank everyone who contributed to help make this miracle possible in just a few weeks!

Thanks to your generosity we can continue fighting for survival.

Along with some of the donations made, we also received many heartwarming messages with kind words of appreciation but one of them particularly touched my heart, it read:

“It’s people like you 2 that give me faith in humans!! Thank you for all you do!!!!”

I want you to know that Jackie and I feel the very same way about you all! Your amazing support has restored our faith in humanity; it showed us that there are still people out there with values and passion for the causes they support and gave us hope for a better world!

Secondly, I want to explain in detail how our difficult housing situation is evolving, and tell you how the funds you’ve helped us raised are being put to good use:

We’ve been able to buy all the supplies that will cover our rescues basic needs, and this will allow us to carry on for a while: food, cat litter, supplements, meds, etc., as well as all the supplies needed to keep feeding feral cats outside the sanctuary.

Additionally, we have paid two-month rent including water and electricity utilities, thus the vulture fund won’t be able to have us evicted for nonpayment of rent which was their original intention.
On the other hand, we’ve paid off the lawyer who is representing us, after we sat with him once again to find ways to work around the problem and avoid eviction.

As I said, the vulture fund cannot get us evicted right at this point, but they could do it at a later date because although we have a rent contract signed with our former landlord, they don’t regard it as valid so even if we keep on paying the rent they will continue with the eviction process, but at least this other kind of process takes a little longer and that will buy us time to figure some things out.

In summary, we don’t know what legal actions the vulture fund will take against us nor whether they will come back to threaten us or try to coerce us but what we do know is that our only way out is to be able to negotiate with them and sign a new contract under social rent conditions as we could be regarded by law as a family in a socially vulnerable situation due to our older age and precarious financial state.

According to our lawyer and social worker, this could be our only hope and last resource not to end up on the streets with all our rescues.

Easier said than done, though!

Most vulture funds reject this kind of agreements, however if we’re taken to court and our lawyer wins the case by proving the law is on our side, then we could get to stay although it’d be for a maximum of two years. Yes, we know it’s difficult but hopefully not impossible!

Some of our followers have asked us “Why don’t you move out and avoid so many problems?” to what we can only reply: we certainly would if we could! Who wouldn’t? but…

In this ‘new world’ landlords don’t rent their places to people like us, unemployed, unable to provide a bank guarantee and with so many rescue animals in their care.

On top of that, sky-rocketing rent prices are unsustainable nowadays and impossible for us to afford. For many years we tried to move out but, in the end, we had to give up and face the ugly truth.

These are the rules of the ‘new world’ where there is no room for people like us nor abandoned animals.

Nevertheless, as impossible as everything may seem right now, we will continue fighting tooth and nail to protect our rescues and we won’t back down because we are not abandoning them to their fate…NOT NOW, NOT EVER!

I personally experienced abandonment first hand when my parents left me behind at a very young age; they just disappeared overnight, and I was left with just a letter so I had to learn to fend for myself.

My life has been complete chaos ever since but on the other hand enduring so much pain shaped me into the person I am today, and it gave me what it takes to rescue the less fortunate like me. So, even though it may seem that we have no way out now; I’m not leaving anyone behind!

Jackie, who went through a similar experience, and I know exactly the crushing pain caused by abandonment and the dreadful consequences it brings but that same pain has always been the driving force that led us to help and rescue homeless animals.

Last but certainly not least, I want to make a special mention and express our deepest gratitude to two people who were key to reaching the goal of the fundraiser and whose names I will not reveal to respect their choice to remain anonymous, however, what I can tell you is that without THEM we could never have made it.

These two long-time supporters, from different sides of the world, showed us a kind of generosity, empathy, and altruism completely out of this world!

Jackie and I will be forever in the debt of these two amazing human beings who made possible what deemed impossible.

You know who you are; a MASSIVE THANK YOU to you both!

Again, a heartfelt thank you and big hug to you all,

Paul

Watch Paul giving thanks to our supporters >